Andrea Anastasakis’s web site contains stories and photos of her unorthodox European travels

Andrea Anastasakis is living the life that many of us have dreamed about.

Born in Australia, she has lived in London, Paris and now Budapest. At the age of 20, Anastasakis embarked on a six-month, around-the-world journey and she hasn’t stopped traveling since. Most of her time these days is spent road-tripping around Central Europe and the Balkans.

If you find this intriguing, you can read all about Anastasakis’s travels on her Rear View Mirror website, www.rearviewmirror.tv, which is a collection of her various blogs. It contains interesting stories and photos of trips to 28 European countries, providing an insider’s look at the back roads and lesser-known stops.

Travel blogger Andrea Anastasakis in southern Albania

Skimming through the blog titles will give you a good idea of her unique perspective. Here are some examples:

• Would You Visit Innsbruck?• The Best of Germany’s Awesome Big Cities• Soviet Estonia: The Good, The Bad and The Miserable• Kaunas Castle and My First Baltic Sunset• Get the picture? It’s not your typical travelogue.

Now in her late 30s, Anastasakis embraces her nomadic existence. At some stops, takes cooking classes and learns the local language.

“For as long as I can remember, I wanted to leave my hometown of Perth and travel the world,” she recalls. “After traveling around the world at a young age, I realized that there was so much more to see.”

After moving to Paris in 1999, she struck up a relationship with Ferbent Nela, who lived in London at the time, and the two became inseparable traveling companions.

“We’re without a home base and slowly making our way around Europe by road,” she explains. “I write about our road trips and day trips as well as destination guides and where to enjoy the local cuisine. We’re travelling slowly to get a better understanding of the places we visit and the people who live there.”

Here’s an interesting snippet from her travels to Estonia: “No stopping and no photos. Those were my strict instructions before crossing into Russia without a visa.

“The road is remote with only a few villagers passing through each day. I could just make out the barbed wire fence through the trees as I approached. There were signs forbidding pedestrians to enter and hand-painted posts marked the border.”

And one from Copenhagen: “A city with a history, beautiful architecture, pretty parks and a cafe culture. A city with a modern edge. Dynamic, eco-conscious and a laid-back vibe… I’m convinced I’d fit right into the Scandinavian lifestyle and culture.”